Reinstalling Big Sur encountered'The operation couldn't be completed. Permission denied.'

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Reinstalling Big Sur encountered'The operation couldn't be completed. Permission denied.'

Macintosh HD drive accidentally deleted within Disk Utility. Flashing-question-mark folder kept flashing on the screen at startup. Attempted to startup with Option-Command-R and then selected the 'Reinstall macOS Big Sur' option but error message "The operation couldn't be completed. Permission denied" appeared. How could I give myself permission since I now no longer able to go into System Preferences nor Get Info screen?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Mar 22, 2021 10:26 PM

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Answer 1

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Sevenor Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 23, 2021 1:12 AM in response to Sevenor

Solved my own question!

You need to format the SSD properly. Go into Disk Utility,

click on the drive Macintosh HD, then select the "Erase" tab. Give it a name that you like and "GUID Patition Map". Not sure what OS you want to install, so "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" is probably the best choice for now.

You should be able to install MacOS once you have it properly formatted.

To reformat:

Shut down your mac.

Simultaneously press Option-Command-R keys and Power buttons

A spinning globe and progress bar will appear.

Select language desired. (English)

Then macos Recovery page with the following options will appear:

Restore from Time Machine

Reinstall macOS Big Sur

Safari

Disk Utility

Select 'Reinstall macOS Big Sur'

Let the installation process proceeds (take approximately 45 minutes)

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Reinstalling Big Sur encountered'The operation couldn't be completed. Permission denied.'

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